[Marxism] Human Rights Watch and their "higher collective standard"

[Eli Stephens <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

          Links and formatting in the original:
http://lefti.blogspot.com/2009/06/human-rights-watch-and-their-higher.html

Human Rights Watch (HRW) today urged the OAS not
to readmit Cuba because "OAS members have made an explicit commitment
to promote human rights and the rule of law in the region." They go on
to say that "Instead of lowering the region's bar to accommodate Cuba,
the OAS should press Cuba to raise its respect for human rights to meet
a higher collective standard."
Yes, we all know about that
"higher standard" that permeates the OAS. Like that of its leading
member, the United States, which has used its unwanted possession of a
portion of Cuban territory to imprison literally hundreds of people
with charges, trial, or pretty much any rights at all (and what rights
they do have tenaciously won by lawyers, not through any concession by
the U.S. government), and which has acknowledged
28 confirmed or suspected homicides of detainees in their custody,
people literally tortured to death, with many more unacknowledged.
That's the "higher collective standard" that HRW aspires to.

Meanwhile
HRW slanders Cuba with the charge that "for nearly five decades, the
Cuban government has enforced political conformity with criminal
prosecutions, long- and short-term detentions, mob harassment, physical
abuse, and surveillance." This is an out-and-out lie. There is no one
in Cuba who has been criminally prosecuted for "political
nonconformity"; unlike the U.S. prison in Cuba (Guantanamo), everyone
in prison in Cuba has been charged, tried, and convicted for violating
existing laws.

Not, by the way, that the U.S. is the only offender in the OAS. On its front 
page today, HRW features an article describing "an epidemic of violence against 
transgender people" in Honduras. Meanwhile in Cuba just two weeks ago there was 
a celebration and march for the International Day against Homophobia, as well 
as an announcement that government-paid sex-change operations will soon be 
underway.

Want
to improve the average human rights level of the members of the OAS?
Try expelling the U.S. And to really improve the level, readmit Cuba,
the country where respect for the right to education, housing, health
care, and a job are placed before the "right" to make a profit.

Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com


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